A driver accused of deliberately ramming a Muslim woman and a schoolgirl told passengers he wondered how it would feel to knock down a pedestrian, a court heard.

Paul Moore is accused of deliberately twice running over 47-year-old Zaynab Hussein before, a short time later, targeting the 12-year-old girl in a similar fashion.

Mrs Hussein suffered devastating injuries and remains in hospital, while the child escaped without serious injury.

The trial, which began at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday, was told Moore deliberately carried out the attacks in Butterwick Drive, Beaumont Leys, on the morning of Wednesday, September 20 – five days after an Islamist terror attack on the Parsons Green tube station in London.

Prosecutor Jonathan Straw told the court that Moore, 21, was carrying four passengers when he first mounted the pavement and struck Mrs Hussein.

All four jumped and ran from the car before Moore turned around and drove again at Mrs Hussein as she lay helpless and injured on the pavement.

In the hours before the collisions, Mr Straw said Moore and his passengers had been driving aimlessly around the city.

However, the four became increasingly uneasy over the speeds he was hitting and the dangerous manner of his driving.

Two of the passengers gave evidence yesterday as the prosecution opened its case.

In police interview videos played in court, Lee Taylor and Reece Bishop said they had spent the previous evening socialising with pals at a friend’s flat in Butterwick Drive.

Moore arrived at the flat at 1am and the group of five got into his car to buy more alcohol from a nearby petrol station.

However, the group decided to stay on the road and spent the next few hours driving around the city, at one point switching to another car – which belonged to Moore’s girlfriend – because his had developed a fault.

Mr Bishop and Mr Taylor both told police during their interviews that they became increasingly concerned by Moore’s driving and behaviour as the night wore on.